Technical Field
The present invention generally relates to self-aligned contacts and methods for making the same, and more particularly to a partial cap on a gate conductor to increase conductor volume of the gate conductor.
Description of the Related Art
A self-aligned contact (SAC) to a source/drain region is needed for complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS) devices with tight contacted gate pitches. Conventional SAC methods require recessing a metal gate and forming an insulator cap on top of the metal gate. The insulator cap prevents electrical shorts between the SAC and metal gate. Recessing the metal gate for the insulator cap reduces the metal gate volume and thus increases gate resistance. A thick metal gate can help gate resistance reduction, but this comes with a penalty of increased parasitic capacitance between the metal gate and the contacts.